WATERLOO – Laura Crocker has been named the 2012 Outstanding Woman of Laurier. Crocker, the skip for Laurier’s varsity women’s curling team, received the award today during a luncheon at the Waterloo Inn Conference Hotel.

“Laura is an outstanding athlete who also shines as a student and a volunteer,” said Peter Baxter, Laurier’s director of athletics and recreation. “This event gives Laurier the opportunity to showcase our exceptional female student-athletes and how they inspire lives of leadership and purpose.”

Crocker is a fourth-year Psychology major from Scarborough, Ontario and a two-time Academic All-Canadian.

“I want to thank Laurier for giving me the opportunity to excel as an athlete, as a student and as a community volunteer,” Crocker told the crowd after accepting her award. “As female athletes, we do face challenges, but we do have very big dreams. We all want to be at the Olympics one day, but we know we will never get there without a room full of people like you supporting women’s athletics.”

Crocker accepted her award in front of more than 300 people attending the awards luncheon. Eleven women competed for the prestigious award this year, including two who joined Crocker as finalists: Hanna Burnett and Caitlin Muirhead.

Crocker won back-to-back OUA Championships this past year. She won the 2011 CIS Championship, followed by a 2012 CIS Championship win on March 18. Crocker represented Laurier and Team Canada at the Kariuzawa International Curling Championships in Japan, where she captured a gold medal.

Crocker also volunteers her time as a Little Rock instructor and assists in the elementary school program Rocks and Rings. Outside of sport, she is actively involved in a developmental education classroom where she works with seven students with developmental delays.

Laurier launched the Outstanding Women of Laurier award in 2006 to recognize female students who combine athletic and academic achievement with an active commitment to the community through volunteerism.

The event included an inspirational keynote address by two-time Olympic gold medalist and CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada commentator Cassie Campbell-Pascall. Campbell-Pascall was also the first female hockey player to be inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. The event was hosted by Laurier alumna Daiene Vernile, anchor and producer for CTV Southwestern Ontario’s Provincewide.

This year’s event raised more than $20,000 to help support women’s athletic initiatives, scholarships and the mentoring program at Laurier.

Contributing sponsors included the City of Cambridge, Ernst & Young LLP, TD Waterhouse Private Securities, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada as well as a number of Wilfrid Laurier University departments. In-kind sponsors included Brentwood Livery, Outstanding Women Speak and Robin’s Goldsmithing.